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Old 15th July 2008, 23:56   #1
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My First real Long Drive

My first real long drive was to Bagalkot & sorrounding areas in North Karnataka, Here is a brief travelogue which could help others who plan to travel in that direction.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

Day 1 --> 21st April 08
---------------------------
It was 3:30AM on 21st April 08 when the alarm sounded on Vaishu's mobile, I pressed the snooze button sleepily however in another 5 mins my cell buzzed. It was time to wake up and head on to our first real long trip in a car. I was really excited and so was my lovely wife. We were to go to Hubli and head on to Bagalkot to attend my friend's marraige and also to visit the places nearby Bagalkot.
All the packing and preparation for the trip was done before hand. I had purchased a new Air Pump just so in case I had a flat tyre, had filled my Santro's tank to the brim on the previous day.
I had sketched out a plan for my travel including the ETA :-)
As per my ETA I was scheduled to leave Bangalore at 04:00am and reach Hubli by 12:30 & finally arrive Bagalkot @ 4:30PM. We started from Bangalore around 4:30AM, by the time we had reached the outskirts it was 5:00AM. We were already an hour late....it was still dark so I was a bit hesitant to push the throttle. I was crusing at just about 60KMPH...till we reached the 1st Toll booth on the Pune-Bangalore NH 4.
Dawn was breaking and the pressure on my throttle slightly increased. Gradually my nerves settled down and I knew deep down that I could make it without any hassles. We started to cruise at around 80-90 KMPH on the wonderful NH4 road.
At about 8:30AM I made my first stop near Chitradurga to have our breakfast. It was a 30 min break followed by a 5 min break to answer nature's call and stretch ;-)
By 10:00AM we had crossed Davangere and I was amazed at the speed at which we were nearing Hubli, by about 12:30 (which was the ETA as per our plan) we had managed to reach Hubli and complete the first important phase of our travel.
I parked my Wonderful red shining SANTRO (nick named TAM-TAM) at Idgah Maidan and headed straight to Kamat Hotel. I ordedered Kakadi (Cucumber) Salad and Veg fried rice followed by Fresh Lemon Soda.
After a delightful meal and half an hour rest we started again at about 13:45 hrs, headed to Shell Petrol Pump at Hubli,Vidyanagar; filled TAM-TAM's tank full again and headed to Kusugal road. On the way saw Vaishu's & Mandar's school.
The route was Navalgund--> Nargund --> Konnur --> Kerur --> Gadankeri Cross -> Bagalkot. The road from Hubli to Navalgund was superb and I expected to reach BGK (Bagalkot) before ETA (4:30PM) however there were some surprises instore for us. The road from Navalgund further towards Nargund was horrible (to say the least) and it continued the same way till I reached Kuligeri cross where I took a wrong deviation and headed towards Badami instead of Bagalkot.
It was a boon in disguise as the roads here were better off than the earlier one. It was 5:30PM exactly when we reached Bagalkot and the roads looked familiar again...
We headed to Anugraha Deluxe Hotel (old Aradhana Hotel) and booked an AC double room, I freshned up and went to meet my friend at Mangal Karyalaya.
Later that night I caught up with Chetan and had dinner outside (Maharaja Gardens) in Navnagar Bagalkot. We slept only at 12:00AM so there was no way we would start early next day.

Next day--> 22nd April 08
------------------------------
We woke up only at 8:30Am, had morning tea & got ready to visit Badami->Banashankari->Pattadkal->Aihole. We were already late as we had expected to start early in the morning.
We had our breakfast (Masala Chapati + Pickle) prepared & carried from B'lore.
After breakfast we headed towards Badami, on the way a mongoose passed us which also happened to pass while returning and the next day too.
We went to Banashankari temple, had darshan and had Sajjige roti & Gadagi Mosaru under a tree on the way to Pattadkal.
From Pattadkal went to Aihole. On reaching Aihole I happended to see a board which read that Kudala Sangama was just about 40KM away.

After seeing Aihole we started towards Kudala Sangama.
Upon reaching Kudala Sangama the weather suddenly changed, it became cloudy, it started drizzling and we could see lightning and hear heavy thunders. The breeze was like 60 KMPH blowing everything coming in its way. All this happened only for a very brief while, meanwhile I parked my car and we went straight to the temple. We finished our darshan and came out only to find that weather was very much normal again, there wasn't a trace of any rain, heavy winds, lightning, thunder etc. It was like a miracle and I felt that God wanted us very much to visit the temple.
After visiting Banashankari & Kudala Sangama I felt very relived, felt that a load was lifted from my shoulders. It was very soothing.
From Kudala Sangama went to Yalguru and had darshana of Lord Anjaneya. We headed back to Bagalkot via Almatti-> Hallur->Bagavati
The day had come to a close with dinner at Anugraha, North indian was on the menu cards today..

23rd April 08
---------------------------
We visited Badami, met our mongoose friend on the way. Came back to Bagalkot by mid afternoon to have lunch in a lingayat Kanavalli. After that we visited some relative's place along with my friend Aashish's shop and house.
24th April 08
--------------------------
Started Bagalkot at 5:00AM by 8:30 we were in Hubli, parked at Idgah Maidan again and had b'fast at Kamat. Followed by some vegetable and Mango Shopping headed to Bangalore after a fuel stop @ Shell.
The return journey was smooth with a lunch stop at Chetana Hotel Davangere. By 6:00PM I was in Bangalore only to be stopped by the same old traffic jams. I reached home at 7:30PM and my first maginificent road trip had come to an end only to start a saga of road trips for the future....

Looking for many more road trips ahead... Next on line is KERALA
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Old 16th July 2008, 10:06   #2
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Nice trip. Where are pics?
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Old 16th July 2008, 10:25   #3
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4 days of up and down trip with a neat report and do post pics as am sure you might have clicked some. All the best for your future Kerala drive too.
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Old 16th July 2008, 11:13   #4
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Nice Report.

Hai Rajiv,

Nice report, all the best for your Kerala trip.

Awaiting photos of the trip with your Red Car!!!

Happy Driving,

--Ramky.
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Old 16th July 2008, 15:23   #5
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Nice travelogue, post the pics soon

Abhi
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Old 2nd August 2008, 04:29   #6
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Pictures posted

Hi Everybody,

I've posted the pics of Badami, Aihole, Pattadkal, Koodala-Sangama all in North Karnataka. Unfortunately i don't have a pic with my car, will post it soon though under Tyres & Alloy section once the rim upgrade is done.

Cheers!
Rajiv
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Old 2nd August 2008, 22:22   #7
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Nice. You will make many more trips, many much longer than this BUT you will always remember your first long road trip :-)
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Old 2nd August 2008, 23:25   #8
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Rajiv, nice travelogue. The first long drive is always exciting. I am surprised you could sleep the night before your trip.
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Old 3rd August 2008, 07:44   #9
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Rajiv, nicely written. Would have helped if the photos were labelled.
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